This invention relates generally to casters or freely swiveling and rolling supports for furniture, machinery, trucks, and other articles. More specifically, the invention deals with improvements in the frame and associated parts of a caster.
As is well known, a caster comprises a wheel or set of wheels mounted in a frame free to swivel about a connector rod, pin or the like by or through which the caster is intended to be connected to a desired article. To facilitate the swiveling motion of the wheel or wheels, the connector has its axis arranged perpendicular to, but out of vertical register with, the wheel axis.
The caster frames have heretofore been made either by pressing of sheet-metal workpieces or by die casting. The frames produced by such conventional methods are subject to the disadvantage that they need considerable machining for mounting the connector and wheel axle in position thereon. The pressed or die-cast frames, moreover, do not seem to appeal to the contemporary sense of beauty.
There has also been known a caster construction incorporating a brake mechanism of the type acting directly upon the wheel or wheels to hold the article to which the casters are attached in a desired position of installation against the possibility of accidental displacement. This type of brake mechanism is objectionable because, if the article is installed on a slippery surface, the casters easily slide thereover with their brakes applied. Furthermore, if the article is unknowingly forced to move over a rough, rigid surface such as that of a concrete flooring while the caster brakes are applied, the wheels may suffer localized wear to such an extent as to result in serious impairment of their desired rolling movement.